http://www.newsweek.com/id/207381
Generic Giants
China is the world's factory, but its top firms remain oddly anonymous.
Huawei may be the best company you've never heard of, and that's a big problem for China. Founded in 1988 by a former People's Liberation Army officer with less than $4,000 in startup capital, Huawei has grown from a small importer into a growing giant—revenue rose 43 percent last year to more than $18 billion—now poised to overtake Nokia Siemens as the world's second-largest maker of telecom hardware, after Ericsson. Even a decade ago, China watchers were touting Huawei as one of the companies most likely to become China's first big global brand. Its headquarters in booming Shenzhen look like a Silicon Valley transplant, with high-tech laboratories, manicured lawns, and staff swimming pools. It made BusinessWeek's latest list of the world's 10 "most influential" companies, alongside Apple, Wal-Mart, Toyota, and Google. Yet Huawei is by far the least internationally recognizable name on the list.
...............
China can never have a global brand, as China can't ever produce anything of quality.
They could start by coming up with better company names.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on July 22, 2009, 11:19:35 AM
They could start by coming up with better company names.
China, Inc. :cool:
seafood salvage and polymer injection.
SSPI?
Quote from: KRonn on July 22, 2009, 09:40:27 AM
http://www.newsweek.com/id/207381
Generic Giants
China is the world's factory, but its top firms remain oddly anonymous.
Huawei may be the best company you've never heard of, and that's a big problem for China. Founded in 1988 by a former People's Liberation Army officer with less than $4,000 in startup capital, Huawei has grown from a small importer into a growing giant—revenue rose 43 percent last year to more than $18 billion—now poised to overtake Nokia Siemens as the world's second-largest maker of telecom hardware, after Ericsson. Even a decade ago, China watchers were touting Huawei as one of the companies most likely to become China's first big global brand. Its headquarters in booming Shenzhen look like a Silicon Valley transplant, with high-tech laboratories, manicured lawns, and staff swimming pools. It made BusinessWeek's latest list of the world's 10 "most influential" companies, alongside Apple, Wal-Mart, Toyota, and Google. Yet Huawei is by far the least internationally recognizable name on the list.
...............
It kind of makes sense though, doesn't it? Huawei has apparently risen in the last decade while the others have been around for much longer. Its rise has been in large part due to importing and to providing products for the domestic Chinese market, or if outside, product that has been rebranded. Stands to reason that it's less known than the others, though I'm sure it'll change.
Quote from: Neil on July 22, 2009, 10:04:03 AM
China can never have a global brand, as China can't ever produce anything of quality.
They said that of the Soviet Union too, and look at the great brands they went on to produce.
I can't think of any specifically right now, though.
Quote from: Josephus on July 22, 2009, 01:26:46 PM
Quote from: Neil on July 22, 2009, 10:04:03 AM
China can never have a global brand, as China can't ever produce anything of quality.
They said that of the Soviet Union too, and look at the great brands they went on to produce.
I can't think of any specifically right now, though.
Aeroflot seems like a brand recognizable by everyone.
Quote from: Josephus on July 22, 2009, 01:26:46 PM
Quote from: Neil on July 22, 2009, 10:04:03 AM
China can never have a global brand, as China can't ever produce anything of quality.
They said that of the Soviet Union too, and look at the great brands they went on to produce.
I can't think of any specifically right now, though.
I can think of quite a few, mostly in the weapons industry.
Quote from: Josephus on July 22, 2009, 01:26:46 PM
Quote from: Neil on July 22, 2009, 10:04:03 AM
China can never have a global brand, as China can't ever produce anything of quality.
They said that of the Soviet Union too
And Japan.
Quote from: Neil on July 22, 2009, 10:04:03 AM
China can never have a global brand, as China can't ever produce anything of quality.
Excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan, I assume?
Quote from: Jacob on July 22, 2009, 01:52:24 PM
Quote from: Neil on July 22, 2009, 10:04:03 AM
China can never have a global brand, as China can't ever produce anything of quality.
Excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan, I assume?
It would appear so. It seems that the guidance an anglophones can create skill.
The Chicoms just can't do branding & marketing. Just isn't in their DNA, it seems. Lenovo might be an exception, but then again they're mostly reaping all of IBM's branding efforts.
I won't buy anything from the Student-Tibetian-Muslim killers until they allow the Republic of China to claim it's rightful place as the government of China.
Quote from: Habsburg on July 22, 2009, 02:14:37 PM
I won't buy anything from the Student-Tibetian-Muslim killers until they allow the Republic of China to claim it's rightful place as the government of China.
I won't buy anything from them until they restore the extraterritorial rights for non-Chinese, restore the Taiwanese government to power over the mainland, grant independence to Tibet, restore to Japan all the territories of Manchuoko and restore Hong Kong to its rightful place in the Empire.
Quote from: Josephus on July 22, 2009, 01:26:46 PM
Quote from: Neil on July 22, 2009, 10:04:03 AM
China can never have a global brand, as China can't ever produce anything of quality.
They said that of the Soviet Union too, and look at the great brands they went on to produce.
I can't think of any specifically right now, though.
Coke-ski-Cola ?? ;)
A better comparison is Japan, it used to have a reputation for cheaply making inferior crap and its brands weren't too well known. These days though everyone knows Sony, Toyota, etc...
Give China time, this biggest Chinese company was only formed 20 years ago. They'll have known companies in a decade or two.
Just 10 years ago no one would have had a clue what on Earth LG was but now its pretty known. And S.Korea is a lot smaller and less important than China.
Yeah, it's only really in the last decade or so that Korean brands have reached any kind of international recognition and association with quality. I expect that there'll be quality brands out of the PRC within the next two decades.
Quote from: Jacob on July 22, 2009, 03:03:43 PM
Yeah, it's only really in the last decade or so that Korean brands have reached any kind of international recognition and association with quality. I expect that there'll be quality brands out of the PRC within the next two decades.
People actually associate Korean goods with quality?
My LG phone is crap. <_<
Quote from: Neil on July 22, 2009, 03:17:12 PMPeople actually associate Korean goods with quality?
Not quite yet, but they've moved from "never heard of them" to "they make that cheap shit I'd never buy" to "they make that fairly cheap shit lots of people buy because its good value for money" to "they make some pretty decent stuff that's quite competitive". Samsung, LG and Hyundai are doing pretty good. It won't be too much longer before they have proper entries in the high end part of the markets as well, I'd wager.
Quote from: Jacob on July 22, 2009, 05:42:21 PM
Quote from: Neil on July 22, 2009, 03:17:12 PMPeople actually associate Korean goods with quality?
Samsung, LG and Hyundai are doing pretty good. It won't be too much longer before they have proper entries in the high end part of the markets as well, I'd wager.
Hyundai. Huawei.
Consumer branding rule number one: the one that anglo-saxons can be confident they can
pronounce will win. ;)
I'm pretty sure that Koreans and Japanese have an easier time marketing to anglos because it's easier for Americans to pronounce their names.
Yeah, Lenovo is pretty hard to pronounce, isn't it? :p
I'm pretty sure that by the time Huawei is seriously try to sell their products to Anglo-Saxon consumers they'll do so using branding that you'll be somewhat confident in pronouncing it.
Quote from: Jacob on July 22, 2009, 06:39:20 PM
I'm pretty sure that by the time Huawei is seriously try to sell their products to Anglo-Saxon consumers they'll do so using branding that you'll be somewhat confident in pronouncing it.
:yes:
Like how Hyundai "branded" its name with a new pronunciation that Americans could handle.
Quote from: garbon on July 22, 2009, 05:20:38 PM
My LG phone is crap. <_<
Mine is fine, it makes calls, that's all I want from a phone. I had no idea what country it was from though.
Quote from: DisturbedPervert on July 22, 2009, 06:49:17 PM
Mine is fine, it makes calls, that's all I want from a phone. I had no idea what country it was from though.
Mine doesn't. Many times it drops out and often the clarity is horrible. Turns out the woman next to me also has the LG Shine and has the same problems. I'm not amused. My ancient nokia was so much better, why did I have to lose it? :weep:
China is also the world's factory for counterfeit drugs that claim hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide. But nobody's talking about that.
Quote from: garbon on July 22, 2009, 06:52:05 PM
Mine doesn't. Many times it drops out and often the clarity is horrible. Turns out the woman next to me also has the LG Shine and has the same problems. I'm not amused. My ancient nokia was so much better, why did I have to lose it? :weep:
Hmm, actually, mine disconnects from the network sometimes and I have to restart it. My old Nokia, which I lost as well, never did that.
Quote from: Jacob on July 22, 2009, 03:03:43 PM
Yeah, it's only really in the last decade or so that Korean brands have reached any kind of international recognition and association with quality. I expect that there'll be quality brands out of the PRC within the next two decades.
First they have to come up with their own stuff, though, instead of just copying other companies. China might not care that their companies infringe, but America, etc. certainly do, and if China wants to sell overseas they'll need to start designing their own stuff.
Quote from: DontSayBanana on July 22, 2009, 06:33:51 PM
Hyundai. Huawei.
Consumer branding rule number one: the one that anglo-saxons can be confident they can pronounce will win. ;)
I'm pretty sure that Koreans and Japanese have an easier time marketing to anglos because it's easier for Americans to pronounce their names.
We only know how to pronounce Hyundai because we've heard it so many times, it's certainly not the way it's spelled.
Quote from: garbon on July 22, 2009, 05:20:38 PM
My LG phone is crap. <_<
My LG fridge is pretty good, I have to say.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on July 22, 2009, 06:55:25 PM
China is also the world's factory for counterfeit drugs that claim hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide. But nobody's talking about that.
Again, poor branding.
Quote from: Razgovory on July 22, 2009, 10:32:07 PM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on July 22, 2009, 06:55:25 PM
China is also the world's factory for counterfeit drugs that claim hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide. But nobody's talking about that.
Again, poor branding.
Indeed. Poor branding makes a lot of sense if you make poor products...
Quote from: Razgovory on July 22, 2009, 10:32:07 PM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on July 22, 2009, 06:55:25 PM
China is also the world's factory for counterfeit drugs that claim hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide. But nobody's talking about that.
Again, poor branding.
:lmfao:
Quote from: derspiess on July 22, 2009, 02:05:15 PM
The Chicoms just can't do branding & marketing. Just isn't in their DNA, it seems. Lenovo might be an exception, but then again they're mostly reaping all of IBM's branding efforts.
If you use Lenovo hardware, you deserve your faith.
Quote from: Jacob on July 22, 2009, 05:42:21 PM
Not quite yet, but they've moved from "never heard of them" to "they make that cheap shit I'd never buy" to "they make that fairly cheap shit lots of people buy because its good value for money" to "they make some pretty decent stuff that's quite competitive". Samsung, LG and Hyundai are doing pretty good. It won't be too much longer before they have proper entries in the high end part of the markets as well, I'd wager.
I'm sure I remember hearing LG were best for plasma TVs or...some sort of TV.
QuoteHyundai. Huawei.
Consumer branding rule number one: the one that anglo-saxons can be confident they can pronounce will win. ;)
I'm pretty sure that Koreans and Japanese have an easier time marketing to anglos because it's easier for Americans to pronounce their names.
Huawei...
When I try and say it (no education on pronouncing Chinese stuff at all here) it comes out like 'ha way'....Which will be interesting for their products in northern Britain...
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on July 22, 2009, 10:21:32 PM
We only know how to pronounce Hyundai because we've heard it so many times, it's certainly not the way it's spelled.
Still, it's got an approximate phonetic equivalent in HUN-day. At a first glance, Standard Mandarin only shares 9 phonemes out of 26 with General American.
QuoteI'm pretty sure that Koreans and Japanese have an easier time marketing to anglos because it's easier for Americans to pronounce their names.
Um...Chinese names are all one syllable words. What is so hard to pronounce about that?
Quote from: Valmy on July 23, 2009, 08:12:56 AM
QuoteI'm pretty sure that Koreans and Japanese have an easier time marketing to anglos because it's easier for Americans to pronounce their names.
Um...Chinese names are all one syllable words. What is so hard to pronounce about that?
They're mostly syllables that don't exist and are hard to approximate in English because we don't have Mandarin accents.
Quote from: DontSayBanana on July 23, 2009, 08:17:02 AM
They're mostly syllables that don't exist and are hard to approximate because we don't have Mandarin accents.
Oh I must have missed where we pronounce Japanese, German, and Korean brands with perfect native accents and pronunciation. I suppose the Chinese can easily say every American brand with a perfect American accent as well. That has zero to do with marketing and brand recognition. Zero.
We can pronounce their names just as well as we can pronounce any others I am sure. 'Huawei' is hardly more of a foreign name then 'Mitsubishi' so it being hard to pronounce (which it isn't, at least an American version of it) has nothing to do with us recognizing their brands.
Quote from: Valmy on July 23, 2009, 08:20:26 AM
Oh I must have missed where we pronounce Japanese, German, and Korean brands with perfect native accents and pronunciation. I suppose the Chinese can easily say every American brand with a perfect American accent as well. That has zero to do with marketing and brand recognition. Zero.
We can pronounce their names just as well as we can pronounce any others I am sure. 'Huawei' is hardly more of a foreign name then 'Mitsubishi' so it being hard to pronounce (which it isn't) has nothing to do with us recognizing their brands. It sounds like typical Chinese arrogance against foreigners bullshit to me.
English is a Germanic language;l there's only 4 letter pronunciations that don't exist in English (
ä,
ö,
ü, and
tch)- they're also hell on the American tongue, but I haven't seen a German brand yet that makes use of those vowels or doesn't forgive an americanized pronouncing the "d" or "t" and the "ch" separately.
Japanese and Korean do share a lot of phonemes with English, most of the differences are more stressed vowels or consonants. Thankfully, romanji did the dirty work of coming up with easy English approximations for those- Chinese and Vietnamese are just too different (there's an entire set of affricate phonemes in Mandarin that just doesn't exist in English pronunciation).
Face it: you can't brand it if your customers can't say it.
Quote from: DontSayBanana on July 23, 2009, 08:30:42 AM
Face it: you can't brand it if your customers can't say it.
Um...I can say Huawei just fine dude. Granted I cannot say it with a perfect Mandarin Accent but what does that have to do with them getting me to remember their brand? If there were ads and a memorable logo for Huawei I would certainly have no trouble remembering it.
Being an American may mean I say Mandarin words with an American accent to best of our western ability but it doesn't make me an idiot. If Huawei thought it was worth their time to get me to be aware of their brand they could do so easily. But I have yet to see 'The Rose Bowl Game brought to you by Huawei'.
QuoteEnglish is a Germanic language;l
And yet we don't say their brands the same as they say them. I can remember Volkswagon even if I do not say it like the average Westphalian though.
English is a Germanic language where most of the words come from French.
Quote from: DontSayBanana link=topic=1639.msg75140#msg75140Face it: you can't brand it if your customers can't say it.
Face it: you should not attempt a career in marketing.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on July 22, 2009, 11:19:35 AM
They could start by coming up with better company names.
Yeah, and in ENGLISH!
Quote from: Tyr on July 23, 2009, 06:16:41 AM
Huawei...
When I try and say it (no education on pronouncing Chinese stuff at all here) it comes out like 'ha way'....Which will be interesting for their products in northern Britain...
I can see the ads... "Life is a Huawei, I want to ride it, all night long."
Quote from: DisturbedPervert on July 22, 2009, 06:57:58 PM
Hmm, actually, mine disconnects from the network sometimes and I have to restart it. My old Nokia, which I lost as well, never did that.
Same here! :angry:
Quote from: Jacob on July 23, 2009, 10:24:01 AM
Face it: you should not attempt a career in marketing.
Gotta agree with Jacob. :hug:
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on July 23, 2009, 01:14:23 PMI can see the ads... "Life is a Huawei, I want to ride it, all night long."
The spoof ads will be great too: "My way or the Huawei", "the Huawei to Hell" etc.
Where's LG from?
Quote from: Jacob on July 23, 2009, 10:24:01 AM
Quote from: DontSayBanana link=topic=1639.msg75140#msg75140Face it: you can't brand it if your customers can't say it.
Face it: you should not attempt a career in marketing.
I have one word for you, and then I'll rest my case. Daewoo.
Quote from: DontSayBanana on July 23, 2009, 07:22:52 PMI have one word for you, and then I'll rest my case. Daewoo.
Yeah, sure, Daewoo vehicles are sold as Chevys in most places outside of Korea. In other words, they brand their product so it sells. If their marketing research indicates that a new brand serves their purposes they coin it (i.e. what Toyota and Honda did with Lexus and Acura respectively). The "unwieldy" name of the original corporation does not significantly impact the ability to brand and sell their product.
Quote from: Jacob on July 23, 2009, 07:46:46 PM
Quote from: DontSayBanana on July 23, 2009, 07:22:52 PMI have one word for you, and then I'll rest my case. Daewoo.
The "unwieldy" name of the original corporation does not significantly impact the ability to brand and sell their product.
Thank hod someone finally said that.
Quote from: Jacob on July 23, 2009, 07:46:46 PM
Yeah, sure, Daewoo vehicles are sold as Chevys in most places outside of Korea. In other words, they brand their product so it sells. If their marketing research indicates that a new brand serves their purposes they coin it (i.e. what Toyota and Honda did with Lexus and Acura respectively). The "unwieldy" name of the original corporation does not significantly impact the ability to brand and sell their product.
:huh: To brand and sell it as a Daewoo in an unfamiliar market, it does. Which, several posts later, is all of the point I was trying to make.
On a lighter note, if Doritos could use "Smoke on the Water" to sell chips, I don't see why Huawei couldn't license the song "Huawei(sic) Star." :P
my old router was an huawei...